The Korea Herald

Australia’s Gillard calls a leadership vote

Feb 23, 2012

CANBERRA (AP) ― Prime Minister Julia Gillard put her job on the line Thursday, announcing a leadership ballot in hopes of quashing a comeback by the premier she ousted in a Labor Party coup. But Kevin Rudd’s supporters said that even if Gillard survives Monday’s vote, the turmoil surrounding her unpopular government will continue until she is out.Rudd, who resigned as foreign minister Wednesday during an official visit to the U.S., told reporters in Washington that night that he thinks Labor wil
China‘s Xi pleases crowd, gives little away on tour

Feb 23, 2012

BEIJING (AFP) -- Xi Jinping returned to Beijing on Thursday after a high-profile foreign tour that analysts say put a more human face on China‘s leader-in-waiting, but gave away little about his politics.Xi, who is all but certain to be China’s next president, attended a basketball game, cracked jokes and showed off his skills on the Gaelic football field during his visit to the United States, Ireland and Turkey.The 10-day trip -- Vice President Xi‘s most high-profile role yet on the diplomatic
Shelling kills 2 Western journalists in Syria

Feb 23, 2012

Syrian gunners pounded an opposition stronghold where the last dispatches from a veteran American-born war correspondent chronicled the suffering of civilians caught in the relentless shelling. An intense morning barrage killed her and a French photojournalist -- two of 74 deaths reported Wednesday in Syria."I watched a little baby die today," Marie Colvin told the BBC from the embattled city of Homs on Tuesday in one of her final reports."Absolutely horrific, a 2-year old child had been hit," a
Researchers find flaw in faster-than-light clocks

Feb 23, 2012

Researchers have found a flaw in the technical setup of an experiment that startled the science world last year by appearing to show particles traveling faster than light. The globe of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, is illuminated outside Geneva, Switzerland. (AP)The problem m
Argentine train slams into station, killing 49

Feb 23, 2012

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) _ A train packed with morning commuters slammed into a downtown station on Wednesday, killing 49 people and injuring hundreds as passenger cars crumpled and windows exploded around them. It was Argentina's worst train accident in decades.The cause wasn't immediately dete
Syria shelling of Homs kills 2 journalists

Feb 22, 2012

BEIRUT (AP)--A French photojournalist and an American working for a British newspaper were killed Wednesday by Syrian government shelling of the opposition stronghold of Homs, France's government said.Activists said at least two other Western journalists were injured in barrages that claimed at leas
Five killed in anti-US Afghan protests: officials

Feb 22, 2012

Afghan men extinguish a fire at an enclosed base belonging to foreigners during a protest against Koran desecration in Kabul on February 22, 2012. Furious Afghans threw rocks and screamed "death to America", setting fire to shops and vehicles as gunshots rang out at protests against Korans being bur
Authorities say 5 dead in U.S. spa shooting

Feb 22, 2012

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- A U.S. man shot dead four people at a Korean spa outside Atlanta before turning the gun on himself in a grisly murder-suicide, police said early Wednesday.The Norcross Police Department said officers were called to the Su Jung Health Sauna at 8:41 p.m. Tuesday where they found three men and two women, all fatally wounded.“Preliminary investigation revealed that an Asian male entered (the) business and shot four of the victims and then shot himself,” it said in a statement.Fou
Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails

Feb 22, 2012

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) ― After more than nine weeks on hunger strike, Khader Adnan became the Palestinian prisoner with by far the longest record of refusing food, Palestinian officials say.A baker by trade, Adnan began his hunger strike on Dec. 18, a day after he was arrested near his home in a village near the northern town of Jenin. His strike entered its 66th day on Tuesday but finally ended after Israeli and Palestinian lawyers signed a deal under which Adnan would be freed
French far-right candidate suffers legal defeat

Feb 22, 2012

PARIS (AP) ― French far right leader Marine Le Pen lost a legal battle Tuesday in her bid to run for president, with the Constitutional Court ruling that her backers’ names must be made public.It’s an indirect victory for conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is trying to sap Le Pen’s support with nationalist rhetoric in his struggle for a second term. A new survey released Tuesday shows Sarkozy gaining ground against the poll favorite, Socialist Francois Hollande.Tuesday’s court decision
U.S. softens stance on arms for Syria rebels

Feb 22, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The Obama administration opened the door slightly Tuesday to international military assistance for Syria’s rebels, with officials saying new tactics may have to be explored if President Bashar Assad continues to defy pressure to halt a brutal crackdown on dissenters.In coordinated messages, the White House and State Department said they still hope for a political solution. But faced with the daily onslaught by the Assad regime against Syrian civilians, officials dropped the adm
Yemenis vote as Saleh’s 33-year rule comes to end

Feb 22, 2012

SANAA (AFP) ― Yemeni voters ended President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 33-year rule in a historic ballot on Tuesday, pinning hopes on a new leader faced with the massive task of rebuilding an impoverished and war-ravaged country.Polling stations closed after a day of voting marred by deadly clashes in the south that left nine people dead, including a child.The only name on the ballot Tuesday was that of Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, who will lead Yemen for a two-year interim period as stipulate
More than 100 killed in south Libya clashes

Feb 22, 2012

TRIPOLI (AFP) ― Fierce clashes between two tribes in Libya’s remote southeastern desert have killed more than 100 people over the past 10 days, tribal sources said on Tuesday.At least 113 people from the Toubu tribe and another 23 from the Zwai tribe have been killed in the town of Kufra since fighting erupted on February 12, the sources said.“We are under siege since a week. Since the start of the clashes, 113 people (from our side) have been killed, including six children,” Toubu chief Issa Ab
Venezuelan’s Chavez faces new surgery

Feb 22, 2012

CARACAS (AP) ― President Hugo Chavez announced Tuesday that doctors in Cuba found a new lesion in the same place where he had a tumor removed last year and said he will require surgery.“It is a small lesion of about 2 centimeters in diameter, very clearly visible,’’ Chavez told state television.The announcement thrust Venezuelan politics into new uncertainty because the socialist leader is seeking re-election this year, hoping to extend his more than 13 years in power with a new six-year term.He
Ex-IMF chief Strauss-Kahn faces sex claims quiz

Feb 21, 2012

PARIS (AP) — Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be questioned Tuesday by French police investigating a suspected hotel prostitution ring.Police in the northern French city of Lille are probing a suspected prostitution ring in France and neighboring Belgium that has implicated police and other officials.Police have questioned prostitutes who said they had sex with Strauss-Kahn during 2010 and 2011 at a luxury hotel in Paris, a restaurant in the French capital and also in Washington D.C.